Master Yi/Strategy

Gameplay

In lane

In lane, Master Yi requires some quick skill and knowledge of lane match-ups to do well. Most of said match-ups are either even (thus, very dependent on the players' skill) or against him, so he can't often afford to rush in recklessly. However, should he receive the leads he needs, he is able to push lane quite well. But with that said, he can push lane too soon which can lead to him being easily ganked. Much of Yi's gameplay in lane would involve patient farming and lane-freezing, so as to not overextend. Though in comparison to the jungle, Yi can gain more frequent exp and gold over time should he diligently farm.

Jungle

Master Yi is a farming jungler with very little gank capability before he is Level 6 and receives his Highlander ability. His sustain from Meditate and whatever life steal he has lets him stay for however long he needs. The Devourer enchantment is best suited to him as the Attack Speed synergizes with his kit and lets farming be even more beneficial. Though for those focusing on more early raw damage with other attack speed items, Warrior is also well-suited for its armor penetration. When ganking, using Highlander lets him get up close and stick to his target to put out his damage. Being a powerful dueler due to the nature of his kit, he can usually kill opponents by himself so long as they aren't going to kill him first or live long enough to be under the (relative) safety of their turrets.

Late game

Master Yi's team fighting prowess is not his strong suit. In general, he fails easier as the quantity of opponents ready to focus his squishy health reserves become more common. When going in, Yi must take advantage of enemy cooldowns, Alpha Strike's brief invulnerability, and Meditate's damage reduction to stay in the fight.
His damage output is high enough to take down even tanks swiftly, so target whatever is nearest and get Alpha Strike up as often as possible. You may only be wasting time if you chase a kiting carry, so avoid leaving yourself open and your sword not swinging, because the sooner an opponent dies, the sooner you have your abilities off cooldown.

Skill usage

Master Yi is a DPS-based champion that relies more on his auto attacks for damage through extra attack speed and only occasional use of his abilities which tend to be more for personal utility. Because of his ease of usage with high damage DPS, he is rather infamous due to being hard to duel against, his Alpha Strike being a powerful invincible execute to low health targets, and his Highlander providing resets on his ability cooldowns without him missing a beat as he slays his enemies.

In order to unlock full potential, perfect timing/reflexes and having knowledge of your enemies abilities/cooldowns is highly recommended as Master Yi more than most other champions because of his low base defense, and weakness against hard CC. Master Yi is one of the most squishy melee auto-attack champions in the game, putting him in a lot of danger when he engages (it is for this reason some higher-level players build him as a bruiser). Master Yi is simple to learn, hard to master when against more powerful opponents, and easy to counter by CC and itemization, especially if played in higher levels of competitive play, many players would have better knowledge of how to counter him.

However, in the end he is extremely rewarding, with the potential to carry games once you master him and thus, mainly tosses most complicated traits involving caster-type champions out the window in place of learning to make solid decisions and make use of proper positioning. Also, one must be wary of the fact he has no team utility such as a form of crowd control, but he must and can still do his job as an assassin regardless.

Master Yi'sDouble Strike is similar to Caitlyn'sHeadshot. It is very useful for dealing extra damage to enemies in lane, by gathering stacks through attacking minions, then attacking the enemy on the fourth strike. Note that delaying too long will cause the buff to disappear.

It is possible to cancel the second strike before the animation finishes, so be careful not to unnecessarily prevent its use.

can also be used to escape chasing enemies, by placing a ward in the Neutral monster camp and using Alpha Strike on the creep, or by targeting nearby minions if fleeing while in a lane (be careful if the minion dies however! Yi will not end up anywhere else if he Alpha Strikes a dying target).

Alpha Strike also causes Master Yi to lose tower aggro when he uses it, by keeping a few friendly and enemy minions around Master Yi can tower dive an enemy champion without fearing the tower's attack after the dive.

He can also time it right when if during an even duel, to use it as an invincible execute, in case the enemy has one final attack of some sort either through auto attacks or ability burst as Yi can avoid it while killing them at the same time.

Alpha Strike is great for harassing no matter how many minions in a wave there are so that Yi can harass his foe for amazing damage from a distance. It is best for Yi to use Alpha Strike as a gap-closer and to dodge attacks. One must also keep track of other potential targets due to the ability also targeting the closest ones around.

Alpha Strike has a high mana cost, so be careful not to use it too often or else you'll go OoM.

If you're in a lane against ranged players, leveling up Meditate can allow you to stay in the lane longer and gain levels faster than the opponents.

Use Meditate if you are being focused on, as the percentage damage reduction greatly reduces your damage taken.

Meditate is especially useful when an opponent is trying to turret dive against Master Yi. He can stand next to the turret and use Meditate to hold off damage from the opponent while they are repeatedly being hit by the turret.

Meditate can help Master Yi survive deadly 1v1 skirmishes by briefly activating Meditate right before the opponent throws high burst at you. In most cases this can turn the tide of the fight as your opponent can't finish you off quickly afterwards. Meditate can reduce up to 70% incoming damage at max level, making it essential for any Master Yi player to master this trick, and to time it right and being sure they won't die while doing so, because once Yi channels his heal, being a sitting duck can backfire on him.

When you are being chased, hiding in a brush and channeling Meditate can give you the upper hand against the enemies. However, do not do this if they can still defeat you after the Meditate.

Highlander can be used as an effective escape tool, especially with Ghost used at the same time. it is also incredibly great at chasing enemies because you cannot be slowed and gain a movement speed boost.

Triggering Wuju Style and Highlander causes massive spikes in Master Yi's DPS, allowing for unparalleled dueling and assassinating potential. However, the former if activated too soon will reduce Yi's damage output upon the active wearing off while on cooldown due to short duration, and must be used if about to score a kill or if extra damage must be done on the get go.

Master Yi is one of the best split pushers and can quite easily pull off a backdoor. Not only can he push lane very well with enough attack speed items, activating Highlander then attacking a turret or inhibitor can take it down very fast.

Though it should be noted that Wuju Style's active does not work on structures, so hold onto it for the AD bonus instead.

Once Master Yi gets enough major items, he is able to rush into the enemy team, swiftly assassinate key targets like the carry or mages, and then Meditate or escape. Watch for cooldowns on disables while doing this, and make sure the enemy team is unwary, otherwise a bad decision can lead to a kill for the enemy team.

Master Yi must pick his targets wisely with proper coverage from either the environment, situation, or via ganking; he can die easily if used recklessly without careful planning, and often needs his abilities to be able to win in most one-on-one fights with raw auto-attacking. And in other words, it's crucial to know when to engage into a fight Yi can win in.

Despite Master Yi lacking in teamfights, it's possible for him to dive into an enemy team cluster and run back out at full speed, due to his high base movement speed and with the combination of certain items and his ultimate making himself the perfect decoy/distraction and enabling his team to find a proper time to initiate.

It's wise to be sure that not all enemies are close and packed together, but are still within reach, so that cooldown refreshes from Highlander are more effective without landing Master Yi in too much danger of getting focused on; an example would be Alpha Strike usage to attack multiple targets to close the gap (depending on which enemy you choose to focus), especially if Alpha Strike's damage is quite high during the time.

Master Yi is over-reliant on Highlander at times to make sure he's as mobile as possible while being able to duel with anyone 1 v 1. Make sure it's often off cooldown before running in to deal damage to any vital enemy champion, and be careful not to waste it too suddenly.

Build usage

Master Yi is almost always built as a melee AD carry focusing mainly on DPS for easy consistent damage because of his kit's nature. It is possible to build him as a heavy-hitting bruiser or burst carry, but Bruiser Yi is less recommended as it requires more experience and knowledge to succeed with in terms of trial and error from build varieties. However, bruiser builds no doubt, are recommended for anyone who prefers to live longer while still being able to deal damage.

His AD grows multiplicatively due to Wuju Style, making it an obvious build choice.

Due to Wuju Style's active providing true damage, armor penetration is somewhat less of a priority for Yi, but it should not be neglected to be purchased regardless.

Playing him as a caster-type champion in the original days of Ability Power Master Yi tends to be risky if not, completely difficult due to proper need for timely for initiation and his squishiness, but full-raw attack damage builds that revolve around maximizing Alpha Strike's damage output for high one-shot burst are possibly just as effective, though armor penetration and cooldown reduction are to be considered.

Because Master Yi is very fragile, burst damage through critical strikes and items providing life steal helps him finish the work quickly and stay alive as long as he's doing damage.

The Black Cleaver is a great major item since it provides a little bit of several stats. With the attack speed boost of Highlander, and the multiple opponent application from Alpha Strike you can easily benefit from the stacking mechanism that penetrates their armor, as well as focusing on its higher raw damage. This item however, is more recommended for any raw damage/bruiser builds over more attack speed-focused builds.

It is generally accepted that Phantom Dancer is superior to Statikk Shiv because of its better stats. However, Statikk Shiv is mainly for those who want to focus on extra AoE and mixed damage burst, especially since Alpha Strike counts as movement for stacking up its passive.

Highlander and the active effect of Youmuu's Ghostblade can be used as a popular combo to gain huge amounts of attack speed and movement speed. This can likely catch unwary opponents off guard and allow for a very fast gap-close, as well as a huge boost of DPS for dueling and taking enemy structures.

Building Guardian Angel will help you survive due to the aversion to focus someone with it, and the passive can allow you to come back to a fight just as the opponents get low on health and clean up with repeated Alpha Strikes.

The movement speed bonus has a higher effect since Master Yi has the highest base movespeed in the game.

The critical chance, attack damage, and attack speed synergize with his kit as a whole, while the small amount of AP slightly improves his Meditate's healing.

The HP and mana amount is also solid for extra defense and more spell casts, and if possible can be worked into some bruiser builds.

In the Jungle, Master Yi most benefits from Stalker's Blade with the Devourer enchantment. CC is something Yi severely lacks, and along with the movement speed bonus, it makes chasing much easier.

Sword of the Occult can work well onMaster Yi, as after level 6 you can often choose your battles and rip through most squishies with ease, creating a powerful snowball effect in the early game when there are few hard CCs to stop you.

Since Yi is DPS based, Sanguine Blade can rocket his damage output as he's on the offense, especially with his Highlander activated.

Ravenous Hydra is great for having extra burst on Yi's auto attacks, as well as having life steal with added sustain via health regen, with the AoE effects enabling Yi to deal more damage in teamfights and farm more effectively.

The active for both Tiamat and Ravenous Hydra can be used to gain vision on certain monsters in the jungle past thin walls, so that way Master Yi can Alpha Strike to the target for a wall-dash escape, which can be useful since Alpha Strike only hits targeted enemies.

Blade of the Ruined King has a strong synergy with his kit and build options, especially as a jungler, and allows him use of the active at his discretion for quick gap-closing.

Essence Reaver is also a powerful choice for Master Yi, since not only does it offer mana recovery - something otherwise unavailable and maybe even in short supply - it also offers Cooldown reduction, a notable benefit for many of Yi's abilities.

Nashor's Tooth is a potential AP item for Yi that can boost the power of Meditate while still benefitting his main role. The cooldown reduction is also a massive benefit to Yi's abilities. However, not only is this not recommended, but it should be the only AP item ever acquired on Yi.

Zephyr tends to be expensive, but also offers DPS potential packed with CDR. This also works very well for when you need Tenacity in order to escape CC easier, with CC being one of Master Yi's biggest weaknesses.

It can potentially replaceBerserker's Greaves due to Yi's high base MS, but be aware that you will not have access to the unique enchantments.

For the tanky side of things, it is possible to include a Spirit Visage, as the CDR and mainly the healing boost passive can boost Meditate's healing power as well as life steal. Though other defensive HP items should be considered as well.

Countering

Hard CC can single-handedly bring down Master Yi. However, his teammates may be able to hold you off before you are able to burst him down, which makes it important to isolate Master Yi or bait him into chasing you with Highlander, before shutting him down.

As Master Yi's damage is completely physical, beyond a potentially minute amount from item effects, Armor is the go-to counter to survive against him.

Attack speed slows do not affect Yi while Highlander is active, so Cold Steel is not as effective against him.

Thornmail is also relatively less effective because of Wuju Style's true damage bypassing it entirely.

When Yi uses Alpha Strike, he will become untargetable and follow his initial target wherever they may go. Use this to lead him into more undesirable locations.

Remember that Alpha Strike places Yi at his initial target when it ends - you can "pull" him into a bad position if you are his target. Note that if the initial target dies when Yi is untargetable, he will return to the position he first cast Alpha Strike, so a smart Yi can land some interesting harassing blows; beware.

Alpha Strike can also follow you over walls when timed correctly, remember this if you are trying to escape with or without him.

Be very careful if you happen to be on low health with little in the way of fighting back, as Yi can quickly execute you with Alpha Strike. This can be dangerous in teamfights, especially with out-of-position teams. By reducing cooldowns thanks to kills and assists, and spamming Alpha Strike to damage while being untargetable can cause a fed Master Yi to chain kill an entire team (even without Highlander).

It is instinctual to split when Yi uses Alpha Strike as the targets have been pre-determined at the time of casting and splitting will allow him to focus individual members of the team.

Group focus should be able to bring Master Yi down before he can deal his full damage potential.

As a carry, Master Yi is very item-dependent and requires a lot of farm to scale up to late game, so during early game, it's crucial to deny him kills early to prevent him from doing major damage. If left alone however, scaling to late game can be a breeze for him as he can become one of the most dangerous champions in the game when fed.

Master Yi's ultimate being immune to slows can backfire greatly on him; champions with fear as a source of CC can easily chase away Yi while Highlander is active, forcing him to flee at full speed due to ignoring the slow. Keep this in mind if you need to flee a pursuing Yi.

Any form of CC that slows but locks movement into a set path can also be just as powerful against Yi, such as Charm making him run full speed uncontrollably towards Ahri's direction.

Master Yi is easily one of the notable melee carries to rely very heavily on his ult. With it on cooldown, his mobility and dueling potential carries a lot more risk. Bait Yi into activating Highlander so that he is much easier to focus and catch once the active runs out and is on cooldown.